Why Do We Blame Victims?

In October, Jonathan Martin, a football player on the Miami Dolphins, left the team due to mistreatment from teammates, which included receiving threatening phone messages from another player. The incident has raised concerns about hazing within the NFL, but it has also prompted some to suggest that Martin himself bears at least partial responsibility for his fate. For example, another NFL player stated in an interview that Martin is "just as much to blame because he allowed it to happen" and should have behaved like a man. Others have argued that Martin was oversensitive and made himself an easy target.

This sort of victim blaming is not unique to bullying cases. It can be seen when rape victims' sexual histories are dissected, when people living in poverty are viewed as lazy and unmotivated, when those suffering from mental or physical illness are presumed to have invited disease through poor lifestyle choices. There are cases where victims may indeed hold some responsibility for their misfortunate, but all too often this responsibility is overblown and other factors are discounted. Why are we so eager to blame victims, even when we have seemingly nothing to gain?

Victim blaming is not just about avoiding culpability—it's also about avoiding vulnerability. The more innocent a victim, the more threatening they are. Victims threaten our sense that the world is a safe and moral place, where good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. When bad things happen to good people, it implies that no one is safe, that no matter how good we are, we too could be vulnerable. The idea that misfortune can be random, striking anyone at any time, is a terrifying thought, and yet we are faced every day with evidence that it may be true.

In the 1960s, social psychologist Dr. Melvin Lerner conducted a famous serious of studies in which he found that when participants observed another person receiving electric shocks and were unable to intervene, they began to derogate the victims. The more unfair and severe the suffering appeared to be, the greater the derogation. Follow up studies found that a similar phenomenon occurs when people evaluate victims of car accidents, rape, domestic violence, illness, and poverty. Research conducted by Dr. Ronnie Janoff-Bulman suggests that victims sometimes even derogate themselves, locating the cause of their suffering in their own behavior, but not in their enduring characteristics, in an effort to make negative events seem more controllable and therefore more avoidable in the future.

Lerner theorized that these victim blaming tendencies are rooted in the belief in a just world, a world where actions have predictable consequences and people can control what happens to them. It is captured in common phrases like "what goes around comes around" and "you reap what you sow." We want to believe that justice will come to wrongdoers, whereas good, honest people who follow the rules will be rewarded. Research has found, not surprisingly, that people who believe that the world is a just place are happier and less depressed. But this happiness may come at a cost—it may reduce our empathy for those who are suffering, and we may even contribute to their suffering by increasing stigmatization.

So is the only alternative to belief in a just world a sense of helplessness and depression? Not at all. People can believe that the world is full of injustice but also believe that they are capable of making the world a more just place through their own actions. One way to help make the world a better place to fight the impulse to rationalize others' suffering, and to recognize that it could have just as soon been us in their shoes. This recognition can be unsettling, but it may also be the only way that we can truly open our hearts to others' suffering and help them feel supported and less alone. What the world may lack in justice we can at least try to make up for in compassion.

I don't think it was very well explained at all. That didn't make a any sense to me. Is it about karma? Is it just for a little girl to be raped or sold into prostitution for example? Is that just according to nature?

You see, that's exactly what this article is trying to say. According to this article, one reason why we tend to blame the victims is because we actually have a firm belief in karma. We believe that if we are good, only good things will happen to us, and if we are bad, only bad things will happen to us. In a just world, that belief would be true.
Now, let's take your example. It is NOT just for a little girl to be raped and sold into prostitution. But then, it can happen in this world. And when it does, it upsets our "good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people" belief. Because now, a bad thing has happened to a good person(the little girl). It implies that even if we are good people, bad things can happen to us. Most people don't want to believe that, because then they would feel vulnerable. So instead, they look for ways to see the victim as a bad person, so that they can hang on to their own belief that the world is a fair and just place, and thus feel safe.
According to this article, that is the theory behind why we tend to blame victims.

I like the part "injustice can be made up for by compassion". You see, the predators/bullies etc are not "the world" any more than we are, hence, we can make up for their wrong doing at least by taking sides WITH the victim and being compassionate. We are not bad people to think that someone acted wrongly. Some people also seem to think that they are judgemental if they criticize a person's wrongdoings..and instead they criticize the victim and change the story of events in order to justify their belief that the events occured because the victim caused the situation to happen. We can make the world just by creating community, by being compassionate with those who suffer.I'm against moral relativism. Some things are wrong. It's not a matter of perspective. Abuse is wrong.

Very well written! I'd just like to add a bit of personal experience - some people who actually suffered (like losing their loved family members, or suffering from mental diseases like me) have judged and blamed me in a similar fashion. Could it be that some people blame not because they think the world is a just place, but because of their belief that they're better than the others? That people can overcome every misfortune by their strong will and strong personality alone, and they belittle people who don't manage to do it by blaming and judging them for being 'weak-willed'? Belittling 'weaker' people makes them feel superior, I suppose.

Yes,unfortunately, I believe you are right about that. Some people see the world through the lens of competition, and measure themselves against every person they meet to determine who is dominant and who is subordinate. They strive to ensure that they are always the "winner"--the dominant one. When seen through this lens, suffering is indeed viewed as weakness and inferiority.

I am sorry to hear that people who were close to you blamed you rather than comforted you in your time of distress. I hope you were able to find human kindness somewhere in your life to feed your strength of spirit and to restore your faith in human nature.

I hope you were able to find human kindness somewhere in your life to feed your strength of spirit and to restore your faith in human nature.

Yes, indeed! I did find such people, two of the kindest people I've ever met. One of them gave me all the warmth she could, her support was honest and devoted and I was astonished to discover that such people actually exist; the other is able to understand like nobody else, he is the only one who truly accepts me with all my oddity without judging me or resorting to cliches! So, even though they were my only true friends in my life, and regrettably I'm able to still keep in touch only with the latter, thinking about them in hard times alleviates the pain and makes me feel happy, truly happy. Some people aren't blessed to have even that! Sorry, I meant to write a short reply, but I hope you sensed my inspiration and gratitude for knowing such people - without them being in my life (even though at different periods in my life, and they don't even know each other), I don't know if I would be still around by now, or I could have turned into a misanthrope at the very least!

I believe it's simply that people have become more selfish, self involved, and self gratuitous. We live in a world of immediacy and everything involves getting what we want. As a society loses its common values we no longer see each other as assets for survival but threats to our survival. We start to lose our basic humanity. It worries me where our lack of compassion will take us. I'm guessing more wars, more racism, more greed. My only desire is that we learn to value each other and learn from our differences experiences. This blaming the victim is just plain arrogance and narcissism. Ultimately, the root of all evil in the world is fear. If only we could individually learn how to conquer our fears and insecurities the world would be a much better place.

Excellent article! It occurred to me that we protect perpetrators for many of the same reasons. We don't want to believe that "normal" people are capable of abusive behavior. People in our families, in the workplace. That person I rely on/am friends with COULDN'T be guilty of abuse! It's another way to believe the world is safe.

Also, we protect perpetrators as a way of protecting the little perpetrator in all of us who doesn't want to be demonized for our faults. Just like minimizing a victim's pain distances us from it, making excuses for the perpetrator is really making excuses for ourselves.

Gosh......I simply cannot agree with most of this article......clearly the author has not had too many "hard luck" experiences in life. The author also clearly believes she is making good decisions and therefore has experienced a lot of control......mistaken perception. A young perspective.....one of those cases of a lot of education and very little actual experience.

Actually, the author's whole point is that blaming the victim for the bad things that happen is wrong and illogical. As she points out, we DON'T always have control in life, even when we make good decisions. Bad things DO happen to good people. She then explains why, in spite of this, many of us still cling to the (unconscious?) belief that if something bad happens, either it's not really a bad thing or the person somehow deserved it. The author doesn't agree with this perspective, she challenges it.

Actually, the author's whole point is that blaming the victim for the bad things that happen is wrong and illogical. As she points out, we DON'T always have control in life, even when we make good decisions. Bad things DO happen to good people. She then explains why, in spite of this, many of us still cling to the (unconscious?) belief that if something bad happens, either it's not really a bad thing or the person somehow deserved it. The author doesn't agree with this perspective, she challenges it.

"In the 1960s, social psychologist Dr. Melvin Lerner (link is external) conducted a famous serious of studies in which he found that when participants observed another person receiving electric shocks" You have a typo in the sentence. It should be, "...a famous series* of studies..." It should be SERIES, not SERIOUS. :) Hope this helps for the future readers.

I was just purusing the Internet because I was disturbed by this kind of behavior and thinking I had actually read RIGHT HERE on Psychology Today just yesterday. Seems you have your own little victim blaming Nazi right on this Website - his name is Izzy Kalman.

I was just perusing the Internet because I was disturbed by this kind of behavior and thinking I had actually read RIGHT HERE on Psychology Today just yesterday. Seems you have your own little victim blaming Nazi right on this Website - his name is Izzy Kalman.

Thanks so much for this article! I am so tired of victim-blaming. And what the author says is true. Victim-blaming makes the situation worse for the victim, making the victim prone to further bullying and abuse.As soon as one person blames, the rest chime in, and you have an entire social group pointing the finger. If the person then goes to a new social circle, the person is smarting from recent wounds. Sadly, the wounds are apparent to those around him/her, so this will lead to more name-calling, "You deserved it!" This cycle has to stop or else it can really get worse and worse and lead to a very very bad end.

The way to stop it is to refuse to participate in blaming. Reach out to those called "bad energy" (which is meaningless), reach out to a person called "negative,' to those called "energy vampires" (again, this is actually not even possible), and reach out to anyone called "toxic," (not real!). These harmful labels are actually magical thinking. No human has such superhuman power as to zap energy or to poison others with toxicity, this is actually fear and loathing and bigotry translated into pop psychology. Just ignore it if you are ever called those nasty names.

If I could zap energy, I'd hand it out to others so you alls could lower your heating bills. How's that for an energy vampire this Christmas season? No one will need fuel assistance, here she comes with the goodies.......

When people tell me they were raped and what not why do I feel the urge to ask them why they were there or what they were wearing... I hate that I can't say "im so sorry that happened can I help?" Instead I feel anger and I feel like it's more their fault. Well accurately, this WAS how I use to think in starting to understand that there is a name for this it's called "victim blaming" I'm starting to see that maybe I should not question it. I should just show support to the people in need. But it's like as soon as they tell you something like rape or something of this nature you want to blame them I mean you are angry at both the raped and the rapist. Maybe I'm just narrowed minded but I feel like I'm starting to understand maybe I'm blaming them because I'm scared of a bad world or maybe I blame them because they are actually somewhat at fault in a way? Maybe deep down I feel that they are a bad person after all? But how can you help not feeling this way..? Maybe I have trust issues idk I just want to stop feeling this way so I can have healthy relationships and not victim blame people for things that I might not understand.